Nebraska bats struggle as Buckeyes win Big Ten title

Ohio State (35-25,13-12 Big Ten) claimed the Big Ten title on Sunday afternoon, with a 3-1 win over Nebraska (31-22, 16-10) in the Big Ten tournament championship game. The Buckeye win gives them an automatic bid into the NCAA Regionals set to take place next weekend. Sunday’s championship at TD Ameritrade Park was the second-largest crowd in college baseball this year, with 17,503 fans in attendance.

Matt Waldron started the day at the mound for NU before being relieved by Mike Waldron in the bottom of the fourth inning. Mike Waldron saw limited action and was quickly replaced by Shay Schanaman in the bottom of the fourth inning. Colby Gomes checked in during the bottom of the eighth inning and closed out the afternoon on the mound for NU.

Ohio State got things going in the bottom of the first inning. Following Waldron’s first strikeout of the afternoon, Brady Cherry singled one to left field, plating one runner, giving the Buckeye’s a 1-0 lead heading into the second inning.

NU started the title game on a slow offensive start not getting their first hit until the top of the third inning when Mojo Hagge singled down the left field line. Cherry stopped the Husker momentum, with a grab out in left field to get the third out for the Buckeye’s.

Two important video reviews favored Ohio State on Sunday, and the first came in the bottom of the fourth inning.

After Nick Erwin’s fly to right field, Brent Todys slid home for the Buckeyes but was ruled out by the umpires. The call was reviewed and reversed, giving OSU a 2-1 lead heading into the fifth inning.

The Huskers got the upper hand in the top of the sixth inning. Following a fielding error and two walks issued by the OSU defense, a bases-loaded walk by Gunner Hellstrom scored the first run of the game for Nebraska. The sophomore's at-bat cut the deficit to 2-1 entering the bottom of the sixth inning.

With Ohio State leading 2-1, Nebraska decided to challenge a call in the top of the seventh inning. With runners on second and third base with two outs, sophomore Aaron Palensky grounded one out to third base and was called out on an extremely close play at first. Following the review, Palensky was ruled out on the play and the inning ended with two Huskers stranded

The Buckeye bats stayed hot in the bottom of the eighth inning when a sacrifice fly from Conner Pohl scored one, extending the Buckeye lead to 3-1.

Ohio State’s defense held up the remainder of the game, as NU couldn’t get anything going offensively with the game ending on three straight strikeouts from Nebraska batters.

In a game where runs came few and far between, the Nebraska offense did little to help push runners across home plate. The Huskers stranded a total of nine batters on the day while only scoring one run. An even more glaring stat by the Huskers this game was the inability to move any runners on the basepaths as the team went 0-8 with runners on base.

There wasn't a more crucial time for runners to be left on than in the sixth and seventh inning. In the sixth, Nebraska was able to load the bases up with two outs and eventually push a runner across but a fly out to center field ended the Nebraska threat.

In the very next inning, the Huskers looked to be rolling into a momentum-swinging inning. Center fielder Joe Acker got things started with a base hit in the inning while Colby Gomes followed the at-bat up with a walk. Mojo Hagge would sacrifice the two runners over but a looking strikeout and a groundout ended the inning.

Ohio State's ability to get out of the seventh inning pushed them to the finish line as there was only one more base runner for Nebraska the rest of the way.

Relief pitcher Shay Schanaman came on for the Huskers in a crucial part of the game and more than held his own against the Buckeyes. After back-to-back singles by Ohio State and no outs in the inning, Schanaman came in and was able to get the next three batters out while only allowing a single run in the inning.

The freshman from Grand Island saw what Robbie Palkert did just a day ago and wanted to go out and mirror the performance he had against the Wolverines. "That was definitely what I was trying to do," Schanaman said when asked if he wanted to follow up with a similar performance. "I wasn't quite able to do what he did but I just emptied the tank and gave my team a shot. It's all you can do in the game of baseball is tip your cap and move on."

Schanaman finished the day going 4.0 innings allowing only one run on two hits to go along with the strikeouts and only one walk. While the end result was disappointing, Schanaman could be a reliable guy the Nebraska bullpen turns to in a game moving forward in postseason play.

Following the disappointing loss to the Buckeyes, the Huskers now turn it's focus to their matchup in the NCAA Regionals taking place next weekend. The Big Ten could potentially see five teams selected to the tournament and Nebraska is expected to be a No. 2 seed in the tournament.

The team loved the energy that 17,000 Nebraska fans brought today and are looking to do everything they can to get back to Omaha. "We couldn't be more thankful for Husker Nation for coming out in full force today," said junior outfielder Joe Acker. "I mean, 17,000, that's unbelievable and we're going to try and get back here for the CWS and hopefully next year we can be in the same position here in the tournament as well."

The 2019 Selection Show will take place Monday, May 27th at 11:00 AM CT and will be televised on ESPNU